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Kristin Scott Thomas May Be Quitting Acting

As an actor, you know the thrill is gone when verbally emasculating Ryan Gosling whilst wearing a leopard-print dress just doesn’t cut it for you anymore. And Kristin Scott Thomas may have reached that point, if the acclaimed actress’s recent comments during an interview with the Guardian are to be believed.

Speaking during a promotional tour for her upcoming film The Invisible Woman, Scott Thomas revealed that her Hollywood career is at an end after snarking that she considers herself to be a “recovering actress.” She added:

I realised I’ve done the things I know how to do so many times in different languages, and I just suddenly thought, I can’t do it any more. I’m bored by it. So I’m stopping.

Apparently, Scott Thomas has had her fill of acting in the movie biz, both on big and small productions. Regarding her problems with shooting bigger-budget projects, the actress said:

No, it’s also that I can’t bear all the kind of rubbish that goes on on those big films. I just can’t stand sitting around for hours in a great big luxury trailer, waiting, bored out of my head. I used to do.

Many actors over the years have vocalized their difficulties with large productions, but Scott Thomas didn’t hold back about the various issues that she’s encountered while working on smaller, independent films as well. The actress’s bitter tone suggests that she’s held these views for a long time but now feels that she’s ready to move on with her life. About small productions, she said:

The kinds of films that I do are usually quite rapidly put together, and it always seems to be a little bit of a shambles. I like filming, but what I don’t like is having to rearrange things and rewrite scenes. I just can’t be bothered… I’m often asked to do something because I’m going to be a sort of weight to their otherwise flimsy production. They need me for production purposes, basically. So they give me a little role in something where they know I’m going to be able to turn up, know what to do, cry in the right place. I shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds, but I keep doing these things for other people, and last year I just decided life’s too short. I don’t want to do it any more.

Wow. Coming from a talented, prolific actress like Scott Thomas, that’s quite a candid statement. Typically, actors abide by the unspoken rule that you say only good things about the projects you’re in, but Scott Thomas has clearly tired of playing games.

I’m particularly inclined to believe that the actress’s statements are honest, and not just intended to build buzz for The Invisible Woman, given Scott Thomas’s past issues with acting. She previously quit the business for a year back in 1999, after Four Weddings and a Funeral led her to appear in some huge films, like The Horse Whisperer and Random Hearts, which led her to publicly declare her disillusionment with Hollywood.

In addition to her shocking role as a domineering mafia mother in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, Scott Thomas is best known for her strong performances as Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Katherine Clifton in The English Patient, Juliette in I’ve Loved You SoLong, Mimi Smith in Nowhere Boyand Julia Jarmond in Sarah’s Key.

The actress took on many instrumental supporting roles throughout her lengthy career, though she’s also proven time and time again that she has the raw talent to carry a film by herself. Personally, I’ll always admire Scott Thomas the most for her powerhouse performance in Sarah’s Key, a completely heartbreaking drama about a journalist investigating the tragic story of a young girl who lived in German-occupied Paris during World War II.

Supposing that Kristin Scott Thomas is actually throwing in the towel, are you sorry to see her go? And if we’ve seen the last of the actress on the big screen, what parts will you remember her for the most? Let us know in the comments.